Asteroids Do Not Concern Me - Discussing the Collision Detector

Intro

Good morning, readers. School is in full swing for me but I want to continue bringing you healthy doses of X-wing brainstorming. With Wave 9’s release just around the corner, let's take a closer look at the upcoming Collision Detector.

Upon Examination

              This intriguing system comes in two parts. The first is mentioned in FFG’s Special Forces TIE article: the Collision Detector allows you to complete your boost, barrel roll, or decloak even if you overlapped an obstacle. It is important to note that while allowing you to complete your movement action, you lose ability to perform further actions. So, if you are Pushing the Limit, be sure to overlap last. Players in the market for an actual “Anti-Bump Detector” should take Advanced Sensors, allowing action economy before moving.

              The second part of the Collision Detector lets your ship to ignore critical hits when rolling for obstacle damage. Based on the 8 faces of an attack die, here are the numbers on obstacle damage.

Obstacle	Chance of Taking Damage	Extra Effect
Asteroid	50%	Lose Action
Asteroid w/ CD	38%	Lose Action
Debris Cloud	13%	1 Stress Token, Lose Action
Debris Cloud w/ CD	0%	1 Stress Token, Lose Action

              As expected, the Collision Detector improves your chances of dodging damage. However, you still can get hit, hence why it’s a Collision “Detector” and not a Collision “Preventer”. As for debris, the CD makes you immune to damage, but you must deal with the accompanying stress.

When to Equip the Collision Detector

              The Collision Detector provides a subtle change, rather than a game-breaking ability. Since we don't want to squander system slots, we must not think of the CD as an auto-include card. In fact, more often than not, a different system upgrade will serve your squad better. The two types of pilots that get the most out of the CD, and therefore equip it most frequently, are 1) named aces with maneuver actions, and 2) low PS generics who aren’t using their system slot. Let's take a closer look at both.

Aces

              The power of movement actions grows in proportion to pilot skill. Since the Collision Detector also adds power to movement actions, this upgrade grows proportionally as well. For example, Keyan Farlander with Veteran Instincts and Advanced Sensors is a decent arc-dodging ship. However, this build is expensive and rather fragile. If we replace AS with the CD, we give power to Keyan’s barrel rolls while saving 3 squad points.

B-wing w/ Keyan – 30 points

              Veteran Instincts

              Collision Detector

              Keyan also exemplifies the fact that many pilots synergize with stress. Our Keyan build loves debris clouds, giving him an “offensive focus” for his action and a 0% chance of collision damage. Another great mashup is 4-Lom with Wired: he gets focus action economy from flying through debris and then can dump the stress on anyone else at range 1.

Mist Hunter w/ 4-Lom – 30 points

              Wired

              Collision Detector

              Intelligence Agent

              Mist Hunter Title

              Tractor Bean

             

The CD/stress combo carries over to ship dials. The Special Forces TIE has quite a few red moves, which is supposed to be a hindrance. Overcome this weakness with the Collision Detector and the Twin Ion Engine Mark II. Let’s build Backdraft like this and he becomes a cheap Imperial Ace who arc-dodges, deals well with stress, and bypasses obstacles to line up double shots and/or slip past enemies.

TIE/sf w/ Backdraft – 29 points

              Veteran Instincts

              Collision Detector

              TIE Mk II

             

              On the opposite end of the dial spectrum is the Aggressor. IG-88’s ship has enough green to easily exploit a CD/stress combo, and he has access to enough action economy that he doesn’t mind taking stress and losing actions. Regrettably, IG-88C can’t boost through an obstacle and get his free evade action.

Aggressor w/ IG-88B – 43 points

              Predator

              Flechette Cannon

              Collision Detector

              Autothrusters

Generics

              I cannot stand un-upgraded B-wings. Though powerful and tough, they are too slow to last long, especially in the current metagame. Attaching upgrades to them helps, but you walk a fine line between adding utility and overpricing. Here is where the Collision Detector comes in: adding utility for no cost. Perhaps all your B-wing needs to survive is to successfully dodge through an asteroid cluster. Adding a CD helps out many other generics as well, such as Special Forces Zetas (TIE swarms that don’t care about obstacles), Cutlass Punishers (more lucrative mine placement), Omicron Shuttles (last ditch attempts to save Palpatine), and Lothal Rebels (good synergy with Dash crew).

B-wing w/ Blue Pilot – 22 points

              Collision Detector

Punisher w/ Cutlass Pilot – 27 points

              Proximity Mines

              Extra Munitions

              Collision Detector

              TIE Mark 2

VCX-100 w/ Lothal Rebel – 40 points

              Dorsal Turret

              Collision Detector

              Dash Rendar

              There are two other generics worth mentioning. The first is the Sigma Squadron TIE Phantom. My favorite build for this pilot is an Intelligence Agent and the Stygium Particle Accelerator. It’s cheap, efficient, and fun to fly. When Wave 9 hits the shelves, the Sigma can take a CD for better maneuverability. While you lose the evade action from the SPA, the ability to dodge through asteroids provides greater unpredictability.

Phantom w/ Sigma Pilot - 28 points

              Collision Detector

              Intelligence Agent

              Stygium Particle Accelerator

              The second generic worth noting is the E-wing. While still not fully viable, an E-wing with a CD and R5-X3 is almost tempting enough to take. It would require intense practice to use obstacles in your favor, but it would be fun to pull off. Perhaps if we get an E-wing title fix, it will be a viable build.

E-wing w/ Knave - 28 points

              Collision Detector

              R5-X3

              (Title...)

Conclusion

              The metagame is always shifting and it can be challenge to continuously adapt. But I hope this small brainstorm session gives you a few ideas on how to solve the challenges you face in X-wing. I wish you luck in navigating those asteroid fields, and have a great week!

Lock S-Foils In Attack Position – Discussing Implications of the Pivot Wing

Intro
              Greeting pilots, and Happy 100,000 Views! I am amazed at the response this blog has received and am grateful for every reader. Thank you for making the Poor Grey Pilot great!

              I am excited to talk about the announcement of U-wing starship. I was curious how this ship would be represented in X-wing Miniatures, but when I read about the Pivot Wing upgrade my mind was blown! In today’s article, I want to explore the implications of the Pivot Wing and discuss the possibility of the s-foil.

The S-Foil

              While cleverly titled, the heart of the “pivot wing” ties back to s-foils. Star Wars ships are so dynamic because they transform. Movable wings seem humdrum to veteran Star Wars fans, but we shouldn’t forget the first time we saw an X-wing transform in A New Hope! (A similar moment is when Darth Maul pulled out the first-ever bow lightsaber, another aspect Star Wars fans take for granted nowadays.)

              It makes sense why s-foils weren’t included at the beginning of X-wing; it helps keep an already complicated game simple. But we are witnesses to a great move in X-wing Miniature mechanics, one that started back in Wave 8. The G-1A Starfighter introduced the first Dual Card, and Wave 10 is bringing another. Like connecting three dots to make a straight line, I predict the next major move for X-wing Miniatures is to create an s-foil mechanic. The Dual Card provides the perfect platform for dictating the mechanic and the Pivot Wing pioneers the effect.

              The benefits I see for an S-Foil Dual Card are twofold: First, it would provide a much-needed fix to the T-65 X-wing, making it more viable and fun to fly. It would be amazing to open and close s-foils, giving you utility to switch between firepower and mobility. Secondly, an S-Foil Dual Card would provide strength to faction identity. Most X-wing Miniature ships with s-foils are Rebel. This means that s-foil mechanics would make factions more distinct, providing necessary individually in the game. Furthermore, it would give a lift to Rebel metagame, which has had to overly rely on expensive aces and clunky ships.

Widespread S-Foil Application

              However, the T-65 isn’t the only ship that both needs an upgrade and can make use of s-foils. Let’s take a look at each one.

T-70 X-wing

              While this ship is already well priced, I want to address a concern some players have expressed in comparing the T-70 to the TIE/sf. For one point cheaper, the TIE/sf features far more bells and whistles. Providing the T-70 with dynamic s-foils would allow it to continue to remain viable in the metagame.

B-wing

              When talking about s-foils for the X-wing, I favor an attack/maneuverability mechanic. For the B-wing, however, I feel that it could benefit more if treated like the U-wing. An agility/maneuverability dual card would help make sure B-wings aren’t just sitting ducks waiting to be blown up. Plus, it would give me an excuse to further mod my B-wing miniatures.

Attack Shuttle

              As I see it, the Attack Shuttle has two roles. It either stays docked in the Ghost as long as possible, thus giving you combined firepower and protection for your fragile fighter. The second role I’ve seen is taking Zeb with Chewbacca as crew to create a powerful pseudo-X-wing. (For those of you wondering why there isn’t a generic Attack Shuttle, this is why.) A dual card would allow the Attack Shuttle freedom to fulfill more roles, such as a more viable arc-dodging Hera.

ARC-170

              This situation is a lot like the T-70’s. Both the ARC-170 and TIE/sf introduced new types of auxiliary firing arcs, but the abilities of the TIE/sf appear to outstrip that of the ARC’s. Perhaps when designing Wave 9, FFG purposefully left some room for a future dual card.

Lambda Shuttle

              These shuttles aren’t small and maneuverable like U-wings, but imagine a space-cow that can perform a stop maneuver to spin 180 degrees! This would keep the Lambda viable, even with the Upsilon on the way.

TIE Advanced Prototype

              Although only shown using s-foils during landing, the Advanced Prototype could benefit from a dual card. It would give the TAP a more distinct feel from its brother, the TIE/x1. It would also provide a healthy cross-faction exception, like Sabine’s TIE.

Star Viper

              Finally, the last ship that could benefit from an s-foil dual card is the Star Viper. While I would still prefer a Viper/Scyk Scum Ace fix, I’d love an s-foil fix. Dynamic wings would pay tribute to the mobility of the space-butterfly as players switch between speed and maneuverability. This would help fix the Viper’s bad pricing and make it even more of a blast to fly on the tabletop.

Further Possibilities

              The U-wing and the TIE Striker are just two concrete examples of the many possibilities of ships we could get in Rogue One. I personally hope we get a few T-65s. That would be a great throwback to the Original Trilogy as well as the comics, like with Nera Dantels and Red Squadron.

I don’t know how a s-foil card would be limited to specific ships, but FFG could find a way. Perhaps, if the movie has X-wings, FFG would have reason to release one final X-wing expansion, with title-specific dual cards for all ships. A crazy rumor going around is whether we could get a Rogue One Starter Set. My fellow-writer Mike Sweetman discusses the possibility over at Be A Healthy Geek, so be sure to check it out!

Thanks for joining me in this fun discussion of what-ifs. Let me know in the comments how you think X-wing Miniatures will be affected by Pivot Wings. I hope you have a great week of gaming, and remember to fly casual!